Central Africa: Security Council mission to urge parties to press for peace

With a primary goal of emphasizing that all parties in the wider Great Lakes region continue pressing for peace - particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) - the United Nations Security Council today released details of its upcoming mission to the region.

A letter from the Council's President, Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan, issued at UN Headquarters in New York today informs Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the 15-nation body's decision to send a mission to the DRC and Burundi from 7 to 16 June. The full Council membership, led by Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sablière of France, will participate in the delegation.

Attached to the letter are the team's terms of reference, which include overall regional as well as specific objectives for the countries to be visited. Among other things, the mission will aim to emphasize the need to take the peace process forward and to stress the willingness of the Council, as well as of the wider international community, to support peace efforts throughout the region.

With that in mind, the Council plans to specifically invite Congolese parties to "work resolutely to implement their commitments within the framework of the Congolese dialogue." It will clearly remind the Congolese parties and the country's neighbours of their obligations, as well as the Council's expectations, chiefly ending all hostilities, respect for human rights and welfare of civilian populations, withdrawal of foreign forces, no interference and cessation of the plundering of natural resources.

The mission is also expected to stress to the Congolese parties and to States in the area the value of making progress towards convening the proposed international conference on peace, security, democracy and development in the Great Lakes region. Based on the Secretary-General's report on adjusting the concept of the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC), the Council will focus on MONUC's role in demobilization and mutual security activities, as well as explore possible areas it might further support the country's transition.

In Burundi, the mission will express the Council's support for the second phase of the transition and the new President, the regional mediators and African peacekeeping mission, as well as the Implementation Monitoring Committee and the Joint Ceasefire Commission. With all political parties and armed groups, the mission will stress that merely signing peace agreements is not enough - there is now a need to work with the new President and the transitional government to implement them.